Bed accessory



M. T- JOHNSON BED ACCESSORY Jan; 27 1970 Filed Jan. 1.7, 1968 United States Patent 3,491,412 BED ACCESSORY Mildred T. Johnson, 21 Shepard Lane, Shrewsbury, Mass. 01545 Filed Jan. 17, 1968, Ser. No. 703,212 Int. Cl. A44b 21/00 US. Cl. 24-73 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is imperative in a hospital that the signal bell for each patient be located where he can reach it easily. The best location is on the mattress at the head of the bed beside the pillow. Because the signal element is connected by a cord to a wall box, it is diflicult to maintain in such a location on the mattress and is easily dislocated by the movements of the patient or the weight of the signal bell being too heavy to be held by the usual clips, so that the equipment falls to the floor.

In the past, it has been common practice to fasten the bell and its cord to the sheet covering the mattress by means of a safety pin or clips, but this leads to the tearing of the sheet or inability of the patient to reach the nurse. As a matter of fact, hospital administrators have found that the replacement of such torn sheets constitutes a considerable expense of the operation of the hospital. In some cases, the hospital personnel locate the signal button by tying the cord to the head of the beds, but this is less than an ideal location from the point of view of the patient and, furthermore, man beds do not have head rails or beds for such use. The expedients suggested above are not neat in appearance and do not lend themselves to the efficient changing of bedding. Other apparatus used in the past have suffered from the disability that there has been difficulty in maintaining a sanitary condition and, in some cases, have been too expensive for practical purposes. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a bed accessory for holding a hospital signal bell, television control, or the like on the mattress beside the pillow at the head of the bed.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a bed signal holder that can be readily removed for changing bedding.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a bed accessory for hospital bed equipment which wil not damage the bed sheets.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a bed accessory which will permit the patient always to have access to his signal apparatus, whereby the nurse can be called in case of emergency.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a bed accessory of the type described which is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to use, and capable of a long life of useful service.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a bed accessory for use in hospitals which can be autoclaved or otherwise sterilized without diminishing its function.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The character of the invention, however, may be best understood by reference to one of its structural forms, as illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of a bed accessory embodying the principles of the present invention in use on a hospital bed,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the acces- FIG. 3 is a plan view of a portion of the accessory, and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line IVIV of FIG. 3.

Referring first to FIG. 1, wherein are best shown the general features of the invention, the bed accessory, indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, is shown in use with a hospital bed 11 and signal button 12. The accessory extends around a mattress 13 on the bed adjacent a pillow 14. The signal button 12 is connected by a cord 15 to an electrical box 16 mounted on a wall at the rear of the bed.

In FIG. 2, it can be seen that the accessory 10 consists of an elongate-d belt 17 and a fastening means 18. The belt is formed of flexible material which is not only strong but also capable of being autoclaved without loss of strength; such a substance would be extruded polyethylene. The material may also be such as to be strong and yet inexpensive, so that it can be thrown away when the patient is discharged. The ends of the belt are provided with means such as a buckle 19 formed of plastic to permit it to be tightly fastened around the mattress and be subject to the movement of the patient in the bed without substantial movement or creep.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the details of the fastening means 18. It consists of a flat element 20 formed of plastic which is provided with two spaced parallel slots 21 and 22 through which the belt 17 is threaded. One side of the element is provided with a male snap fastener part 23 which cooperates with a female snap fastener part 24 fastened in the belt 17. A plurality of similar female snap fastener parts, such parts 25 and 26, are located along the length of the belt.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The operation of the invention will now be readily understood in view of the description. The buckle 19 is released and the bight of the belt 17 is slid under the mattress. The belt is passed over the mattress with the fastening means 18 uppermost and the buckle is reassembled. Before the belt is tightened around the mattress, however, the slack is pulled up in a loop between the slots 21 and 22 in the flat element; this loop is increased until it is large enough to permit the passage of the signal button 12. The button is so passed through the loop and the belt is tightened until the loop embraces and holds the cord 15 adjacent the button. The buckle 19 is pulled up so that the belt embraces the mattress tightly and can be moved only with difficulty.

It can be seen, then, that the invention provide-s a means for locating the signal button (or personal radio loudspeaker, etc.) at a position convenient to the patient. The construction is such that there is no danger to the patient due to sharp corners and edges. The simplicity or the construction and the use of plastic materials allows the equipment to be sterilized even in an autoclave with out damage. There is no possibility of damage to the bed sheet as was true in the past when safety pins and the like were used. The inexpensive nature of the invention makes it possible to discard it Without substantial cost after it has been used by one patient, thus reducing the possibility of transmission of disease from one patient to another. If desired, more than one patient aid can be held in a position for use by the patient.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. A bed accessory, comprising:

(a) an elongated flexible belt having means at its ends to permit it to be tightly fastened around a mattress at the head of a bed,

(b) fastening means located at an intermediate part of the belt for attaching a signal hell or the like thereto, the fastening means consisting of a flat element having two parallel slots through which the belt isthreaded, and

(c) a snap fastener extending between the said element and the belt to maintain the element at a predetermined position along the belt.

2. A bed fastener as recited in claim 1 wherein the References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 973,977 10/ 1910 Salinger 2472.5 2,701,883 2/1955 DeFazio 53 17 2,846,700 8/ 1958 DePuy 53 17 2,876,464 3/ 1959 Helverson 5-3 17 1,164,928 12/1915 Corcoran.

2,449,882 9/1948 Daniels 243.1 XR

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner 

